The two brothers from invited team RSV Hardt (Florian and Mathias Müller) had got promoted to the second national division a few weeks earlier – a career highlight for them – following the steady position for many years as one of the best teams in the regional league of Baden-Württemberg. After an absence of 28 years, the Hardt team is once again represented in the second highest league in Germany. Their invitation to the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup in Hardt, competing against top-level opponents in front of a home-crowd, was a real blessing for the Hardt brothers. A couple of years earlier, at the 2015 Elite European Championships, they had managed to unravel the established teams. At the UCI World Cup level, they could not repeat the same performance, conceding 27 goals and scoring only four goals, which resulted in a tenth place.
Meanwhile, the reigning UCI World Champions from the RMC Stein (Germany) team, Gerhard and Bernd Mlady, showed good form. They reached the final unbeaten from their group, with an 8:1 semi-final victory against Dorlisheim (France). In an intense battle with the vice UCI World Champions from RMV Pfungen (Switzerland), Severin and Benjamin Waibel, the Mlady cousins secured a win with 7:6. The duo climbed to sixth place in the overall UCI World Cup ranking and have in theory still an opportunity to reach first place with two remaining rounds to be played.
Their performance was better than in the third round of the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup, held in Berlin (Germany) just two weeks earlier (10 September). The players from RMC Stein had to settle for third place, after goalkeeper Gerhard dropped out in the preliminary round and Bernd had to continue with substitute Robert Mlady. The team lost in the semi-finals against the vice UCI World Champions Pfungen with 4:5. In the match for third place, they came back and won against Altdorf (Switzerland) with 1:0.
The RV Dornbirn (Austria) team faced a setback in the fourth round in Hardt. 2021 UCI Cycle-ball World Cup winner Stefan Feuerstein could not compete with his regular partner, the multiple UCI World Champion Patrick Schnetzer, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Regular reserve Simon König could not step in either. Feuerstein partnered with substitute Simon Buchhäusl from the second division, who made his UCI World Cup debut, and the duo finished eight.
The German champions from 2019, André and Raphael Kopp, did not have great competitions in Hardt, finishing on seventh place. This after having secured third place at the season opener and the victory at the second round in Dorlisheim (France).
Standings after four rounds out of six:
RSC Schiefbahn (GER) – Sven Holland-Moritz and Marius Hermanns (140 points)
RMV Pfungen (SUI) – Severin and Benjamin Waibel (125 points)
RV Obernfeld (GER) Andre and Raphael Kopp (110 points)
Overall standings in the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup
Results from the third round of the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup (Berlin)
Results from the fourth round of the UCI Cycle-ball World Cup (Hardt)